Russ Steele
This Cambridge Scientific Alliance newsletter for 12th December 2008 popped into my email and I thought is was worth sharing with readers.
A different view of environmental issues
As this newsletter goes out, the UN climate change conference in Poznan goes to the wire. Starting on 1st December with government negotiators and a wide range of NGOs present, the final two days are given over to the high-level part of the meeting, attended by ministers and top officials from all 186 participating nations. 10,000 people have attended this conference, with the aim of cobbling together a way forward which would result in a post-Kyoto (after 2012) package of mitigation measures at the Copenhagen conference next December.
But the difficulties of coming to an agreement which is credible and workable are becoming increasingly apparent. One particularly ironic issue is that the EU, which likes to see itself leading the charge when it comes to emissions reduction, is also holding a Council meeting in Brussels and has so far failed to come to an agreement on its own package. And in a further twist, the leader of the awkward brigade which has frustrated negotiations is Poland, host of the UN conference.
The problem lies first with the increasingly discredited Emissions Trading System. By issuing a restricted number of credits which could be sold by those organisations cutting their emissions and bought by those exceeding allowances, politicians have sought to create a market such that the price of permits would provide an incentive to reduce the use of fossil fuels. But this is a highly rigged, centrally planned market which policymakers believed could be controlled by issuing the "correct" number of permits which would then find their own price level and force down emissions.
But the difficulties of coming to an agreement which is credible and workable are becoming increasingly apparent. One particularly ironic issue is that the EU, which likes to see itself leading the charge when it comes to emissions reduction, is also holding a Council meeting in Brussels and has so far failed to come to an agreement on its own package. And in a further twist, the leader of the awkward brigade which has frustrated negotiations is Poland, host of the UN conference.
The problem lies first with the increasingly discredited Emissions Trading System. By issuing a restricted number of credits which could be sold by those organisations cutting their emissions and bought by those exceeding allowances, politicians have sought to create a market such that the price of permits would provide an incentive to reduce the use of fossil fuels. But this is a highly rigged, centrally planned market which policymakers believed could be controlled by issuing the "correct" number of permits which would then find their own price level and force down emissions.
The whole newsletter is worth your time to read and is available here. What is happening in Poznan and Brussels can be instructive for California leaders, as they attempt move forward on a cap and trade emissions trading system. Things are not going well in the climate change world, as the citizens are not on board and political leaders are responding the economic pressure. As EU reality bites, what next in California?
